


A Little Late

by cacophonylights



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-16
Updated: 2012-02-16
Packaged: 2017-11-02 02:08:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/363829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cacophonylights/pseuds/cacophonylights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Kurt has never cared overmuch about Valentine’s Day. The tacky decorations, the overpriced mediocre chocolate, and the sickeningly sugary cards, all seemed to him like one giant ploy to boost consumerism during the post holiday lull.  So when Sebastian mentions offhand about a month before that he’s never been big on the holiday either Kurt doesn’t really think anything of it, and he’s certainly not disappointed. If anything it’s a bit of relief, his boyfriend feeling the same way as him for once. After all, Kurt has had his share of sincere but sappy boyfriends over the years and one of the things he’s always liked best about Bas was that he was so very not those things. Until…</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Late

Kurt has never cared overmuch about Valentine’s Day.

The tacky decorations, the overpriced mediocre chocolate, and the sickeningly sugary cards, all seemed to him like one giant ploy to boost consumerism during the post holiday lull.  So when Sebastian mentions offhand about a month before that he’s never been big on the holiday either Kurt doesn’t really think anything of it, and he’s certainly not disappointed. If anything it’s a bit of relief, his boyfriend feeling the same way as him for once. After all, Kurt has had his share of sincere but sappy boyfriends over the years and one of the things he’s always liked best about Bas was that he was so very not those things.

As the 14th approaches, Kurt is one of the few people at the theatre not thrown into a tizzy of preparation or expectation.  While his friends and colleagues make frantic calls for last minute reservations and lament over the jacked up prices on red roses, Kurt blithely goes about his day laughing a little inside at all the drama. 

He’s pretty sure that he and Sebastian will just end up doing the same thing they used to do on Valentine’s Day when they were still just friends and simultaneously single, namely order obscene amounts of Chinese food and argue over the remote.  It was perfect then and it sounds perfect to him now, and that’s another thing he loves about Bas. 

They’ve only been dating for about 5 months, but they have nearly 5 years of shared history that makes being together easy in a way that new relationships often aren’t.  Kurt’s been hanging out on Sebastian’s couch for years, and Sebastian knows to order extra fried wontons as Kurt will never request them, but will steal them off Bas’s plate.  Kurt will probably even end up in a borrowed pair of flannel sleep pants and not think twice about how he looks in them, and Sebastian will tease him for it but his eyes will still get a little darker seeing Kurt in his clothes.

They are comfortable with each other, they know each other, and they still _want_.  Things like this are how Kurt knows it’s love, even though they haven’t said the words yet.

So no, Kurt isn’t investing too much thought or care into Valentine’s Day this year.

That is, until he gets a call three days before.

*&*&*&*&*&*

They aren’t living together yet, not officially, but Kurt finds himself at Sebastian’s apartment most nights and nearly half the closet space is taken up with his clothing.  Sebastian keeps insisting that Kurt stays because he likes the bigger kitchen, and Kurt claims it’s because the commute to the theatre is easier, but they both know that it’s really because neither one of them can sleep quite as well alone anymore.

In any case, Kurt is in the little one-bedroom with awesome views of Central Park often enough that he no longer thinks twice about answering the phone. Mostly it’s just Bas’s mom anyhow, she’s the only one who really calls the landline with any regularity, and she usually calls to talk to Kurt in the first place.  When it rings today things are no different, and Kurt picks up already smiling.

“Bonjour Maman!” he greets her, slipping into French easily.  Another benefit of his long association with Sebastian has been the opportunity to keep his grasp of the language sharp. 

“Kurt, mon chouchou!”  Cecily trills back happily on the other end, sticking to French herself.  She has always told Kurt how much she adores that he will converse with her in her native language, “ _how are you darling?”_

“ _Busy,”_ he replies honestly, “ _But happy.”_

Cecily tsks a bit at his answer, and he laughs at the motherly sound.  She is always badgering them about their crazy schedules, insisting that if they would only come to France their lives would be so much more relaxed.

“ _Busy, my boys are always so busy.  Really Kurt, you and Bastian do too much.  You’re young, you are supposed to be enjoying life!”_

“ _We are enjoying it I promise,”_ he assures her fondly.

“ _Well, I’m sure that whatever my baby has planned for you for Valentine’s will be enjoyable at least,”_ she allows.

 Kurt almost lets it slide, because really if it makes her happy to think of them doing something for the holiday who is he to disillusion her? But he’s been feeling good about avoiding the madness, weirdly proud of his and Bas’s choice to rise above it all, and so instead he says, “ _Now Cece, you know Bastian doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day._ ”

His tone is light and teasing, but he is still surprised by her loud laughter.

“ _Kurt, you silly thing, don’t play coy.  Bastian has been a connoisseur of Valentine’s since he was a boy!  I remember how every year he would spend hours picking out just the right chocolates for whatever little boy he had a crush on.  And goodness, I’m sure you’ve heard the story of when he was 15 and tried to break into the Mus_ _ée de l’Orangerie with his boyfriend to have a romantic midnight picnic underneath Monet’s Water Lilies? That took some fast talking and a month of dates with the Captain of the Police to sort out!”_

No, Kurt had not heard that story in fact. He doesn’t hear anymore about it now either, as the reminiscence about the Police Captain seems to have sparked Cecily to remember a whole string of lovers, leading up to her current one (a painter with whom she is ‘desperately in love’, as she always is) and she is already chattering happily away about it before Kurt can ask.

It doesn’t matter though, because that was Sebastian as a boy and lord knows Kurt was much more invested in red paper hearts and cheesy ‘Will You Be Mine?’ lines when he was young too.  By the time Cece signs off with her trademark, “ _Kisses to you both!”_ he’s nearly forgotten the whole thing. 

If he thinks about a younger Sebastian committing felonies in the name of love at all, it is merely because he is trying to decide how he can best use the information to tease.

Nope, Kurt is still not all that concerned about Valentine’s Day.  Until he has coffee two days before.

*&*&*&*&*&*

Kurt has been getting coffee with Blaine at least once a week since he was 16, with only a brief pause the year he had gone off to college and they had suffered through an awkward but ultimately amicable break-up.  By the time the following September had rolled around they were back to being friends, and with Blaine new to New York Kurt had used the ritual of the coffee date to show Blaine his city.  For a full year they had visited a different café or hole in the wall shop every week, though now they tend to meet at the little bistro about 4 blocks away from where Kurt is currently rehearsing.

Kurt has already ordered for them, Blaine still drinks a medium drip even after all these years, and is sitting at a cozy corner table when the other boy arrives.  Blaine swings in, all windswept curls and cheeks red from the cold, his eyes twinkling, and Kurt smiles fondly at the memories it conjures up.  Blaine had been exactly what he needed back then in a boyfriend, and Kurt will be eternally thankful that somehow Blaine can be exactly what he needs in a friend these days without any lingering feelings or resentments.

Blaine finally tumbles into the chair across from him, making grabby hands at the proffered cup and already talking nearly a mile a minute.

“Sorry I’m late, things have been absolutely nuts at school this past week,” he says, pausing to take a long sip of his coffee before unwinding his scarf and continuing.  “Zach thinks that Valentine’s Day is the perfect day to ask Emily to marry him, and so naturally has unilaterally decided that this means the entire Music Department should be at his disposal day or night to help construct the perfect proposal.  He held us all up today rehearsing ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’ before finally deciding it wasn’t quite the mood he was going for.”

“And thank goodness for that,” Kurt replied, arching an eyebrow in condemnation of the very thought.  He’s been hearing about Zach, the director of the Music program Blaine is in at school, for awhile now so while the song choice doesn’t surprise him he’s still pretty sure it’s worthy of his disdain.

“Oh I know right?  Honestly it reminds me a bit of Mr. Schue. Remember when he had us do a whole week of songs just to find something to propose to Ms. Pillsbury with?” Blaine chuckles back.

“As if I could forget.  I swear if that man had decided that ‘Moves Like Jagger’ was an appropriate proposal song I would have cut out my own tongue before performing it,” Kurt says scathingly, but his smile softens his words.

“It _was_ fun to dance to though,” Blaine adds, wiggling his eyebrows scandalously and pulling another laugh out of Kurt.  “And I don’t think you should be so quick to judge other people’s grand gestures, Kurt, not until you find out whatever Sebastian has planned for you for Valentine’s. For all you know it could be worse!”

Blaine is still laughing, but Kurt’s lips tilt down just the slightest in consideration.  This is the second time in as many days that someone has brought up Bas in relation to a holiday he supposedly doesn’t celebrate. But maybe Blaine is just assuming.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Kurt replies airily, though the tone is a bit forced, “Bas and I both think it’s a silly holiday so I kinda doubt there will be any ‘grand gestures’ to embarrass me.”

Now Blaine just looks perplexed and it is making something twist unpleasantly in Kurt’s stomach.

“But Sebastian goes nuts on Valentine’s Day,” Blaine says, studying Kurt’s face as if waiting to be let in on a joke.  “I mean, just look at how crazy he went with me.”

“He bought you edible underwear Blaine,” Kurt deadpans, remembering how they had been so confused by the fact that only two weeks after nearly blinding Blaine with a slushie Sebastian had been back to the flirting and sending inappropriate gifts and messages.

“No, well I mean yes he did do that…but I’m talking about the year after.”

And this is a story Kurt does know, though he hasn’t thought of it in so long he’d nearly forgotten.

It had been the year of the awkward break-up, and things had still been a little weird between them in February so Kurt didn’t end up hearing the whole thing until a month or so later.  Sebastian, despite having been in his first year in college in New York himself, and despite having just recently begun a tentative friendship of sorts with Kurt after a few overly antagonistic and ultimately entertaining run-ins around the city, had thought he would give one last shot at getting Blaine.

As Blaine told it, because it was one of those things that Bas and Kurt just never really discussed so Kurt only had Blaine’s words to go on, Sebastian had started his campaign of wooing by sending flowers.  Not just any flowers either, but complicated exotic bouquets which practically screamed ‘expensive’ and ‘rare’. 

He’d followed up with a coffee cart that had been wheeled around behind Blaine throughout the day, ready to make drinks for him and his friends at a moment’s notice (Figgins hadn’t been too fond of that, but a ‘mysterious donor’ cut him a check and so it was allowed). 

The grand finale had come that evening when Blaine woke up to a full Warbler’s acapella serenade outside his bedroom window, with Sebastian singing lead.

Blaine had eventually admitted that the whole plan might have worked too, except that the singing woke up his parents who were uncharacteristically home for the night and were none too thrilled to find a boys’ show choir on their front lawn.  Sebastian had been chased off and ended up back at school in New York before Blaine could decide what to do about it all, and the two hadn’t even seen each other again until the following year, and only then because of their shared association with Kurt.

Kurt wasn’t sure how he had managed to suppress that particular story when Bas had claimed to be anti-Valentine’s day, but he supposed it was probably because it was not a memory he liked to dwell on to begin with.  At the time the whole thing had made him feel jealous and vaguely ill, further complicated by the fact that he hadn’t been able to determine whether the sense of betrayal and envy had more to do with his past relationship with Blaine or his current friendship with Bas. 

Truthfully he’d forgotten the whole debacle had taken place on Valentine’s Day at all, as any thoughts of Sebastian’s failed romance with Blaine mostly centered around his relief at the ‘failed’ part and not so much on the ‘romance’. Thinking about it now, though, brought that little twist from yesterday back to his stomach, now joined alarmingly by a little twist to his heart.

Blaine must have seen something of this in his expression, because he was already looking contrite and trying to backpedal.

“God, that was stupid of me to say.  I’m sorry Kurt, I don’t know why I even brought it up…I’m sure whatever he has planned for you is going to be ten times better than all of that.”

“Hmm, yes I’m sure,” Kurt agreed vaguely, his mind still turning things over.

When Blaine continued to stare at him with large puppy dog eyes filled with earnest worry and apologies, however, Kurt quickly shook himself from his own thoughts and smiled hugely.  Soon enough they were chatting freely about everything else under the sun and the topic of the holiday was mostly forgotten.

If Kurt later thinks about a 19 year old Sebastian wooing a boy with flowers and coffee and song it is only because seeing Blaine has made him nostalgic and he can’t help but think of all their shared pasts.

No sir, Kurt is not thinking at all about his own lack of Valentine’s Day plans, Not. At. All.  At least until there is a knock on the door one day before.

*&*&*&*&*&*

Sebastian only has one sibling, a half sister named Victoria who spends most of the year at her mother’s house in Westerville, only visiting their father in New York on school holidays and during the summer.  She is only 9, but already too smart and pretty for her own good and well aware of the fact.  Kurt absolutely adores her.

Victoria’s school in Ohio is on one of those year-round schedules, so she just so happens to have a two week winter break in February and she’s been insisting that Kurt and Sebastian escort her around town for the past 14 days.  In fact, they are supposed to be taking her to the train station tonight to send her back to her mother’s. So when the knock comes, Kurt can’t say he’s surprised to see her standing on the other side even though she’s a few hours early. 

Neither is he surprised by the way she pushes past him and into the living room before he can get out a word. Victoria hasn’t quite mastered the art of a proper greeting just yet.

“And hello to you to, Tory,” he says instead to the empty hallway, “Won’t you please come in?”

When he turns around after closing the door he finds her already flung dramatically across one of the leather couches, complete with an arm thrown over her eyes for effect.  She’s going to make a hell of a starlet one day, of that Kurt is certain.

“What’s wrong ma petite Queen?” he asks, throwing out the endearment just to bug her.  Bas has been calling her ‘the little Queen’ since she was born and graced with her name, and she hates it.  Of course this only means Sebastian uses it more often, and though Kurt usually refrains sometimes he just can’t help it.  Her snits are adorable.

Today, though, her internal melodrama must be rather, well, _dramatic_ , because she ignores the dig entirely and launches instead directly into a recounting of her troubles.

“ _Kurrrt_ ,” she whines at him, “My life is _over_.  Absolutely _over_. I swear I’m going to _die_.”

Kurt rolls his eyes at her, but nevertheless sinks down into an armchair and prompts, “Oh? And what, pray tell, is killing you this time?”

“ ** _Love_** ,” she says, big and dramatic and like she means it.

“Hmmm, well that is a problem,” Kurt agrees, eyes crinkling up with suppressed laughter.  “Tell me more.” (he barely refrains from breaking into the opening chorus of ‘Summer Nights’, an additional ‘tell me more’ on the tip of his tongue.  Clearly seeing Blaine yesterday had put him right back into high school.)

Victoria finally sits up, sensing she has an at least somewhat captive audience.

“There’s this boy back home,” she begins, (Kurt nods seriously and sagely). “And he is perfection, Kurt, per-fec-tion.”  (This is a recent habit she’s picked up, neither he nor Bas can figure out from where, of separating her words into syllables for extra emphasis.) “He’s handsome and smart and in the _sixth grade_.” (She says this last like he might as well be the crown prince himself).

“So what’s the problem?” Kurt asks. He wonders briefly if he should say something about her newfound fondness for older men, but figures that’s her mother’s job – or at the very least her _actual_ brother.

“I’m pretty sure he’s dating another girl,” Victoria laments, eyes already welling with tears, “I thought maybe if I found the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for him while I was here – you know something that would show him how grown up and mature and amazing I am, in New York all by myself-“ (Kurt barely holds in the grin threatening to break free at that.) “Well, I guess I thought if I could find the right gift to make him see me _that_ way he’d love me too and want to be _my_ Valentine instead.” (Kurt can’t remember if love ever seemed that simple to him, even at nine.) “But I haven’t found _anything_ and now it’s all over!” she concludes, throwing herself back into her tragic repose on across the couch cushions.

Kurt makes sympathetic noises as he searches for the right words to say.  Eventually he settles on, “Well, at least _you_ know how fabulous and grownup and amazing you are right?”

Victoria peeks out from under her arm to glare at him, but he remains undaunted.

“I mean, if he can’t tell how great you are without a gift then he’s obviously not the boy for you, is he?” (Her glare intensifies) “And think of all the presents we found for you! You know, I’m still partial to that gorgeous scarf we found at-“

“Kurt!”  Victoria’s exasperated screech cuts him off mid-sentence and for just a second he is a bit annoyed. It really _was_ a great scarf.

“You suck at this, did you know that? Where’s Seb, he’ll know what I should do.”

She’s already getting up as if to search the apartment, but Kurt waves her back down.

“He’s still at work, you know how ragged they’ve been running him this week.”

He knows she knows, because all to often this week it has turned into just the two of them when there were meant to be three.  Even though the elder Mr. Smythe is a former State’s Attorney, now a judge, Sebastian is still fighting his way up at the firm he works at, which often means long hours.

“Well maybe we should call him then,” she reasons, already pulling out a sparkly pink cellphone from her pocket.

“We’ll do no such thing,” Kurt says, snatching it out of her grasp, “Besides, I wouldn’t count on your brother to be some font of wisdom when it comes to Valentine’s Day gift giving, as he isn’t a big fan of the day himself.”

Victoria actually snorts with laughter.

“Yeah right. My brother is like Mr. Romeo when it comes to this stuff,” she says, trying to wrestle her phone back.

“Is not,” Kurt replies, and wants to smack himself for the stupidity of arguing about it.

“Is so,” Victoria returns, managing to wrangle the cell from his grasp and collapsing back to her seat. “I mean, just look at what he did last year for Greg.”

Kurt’s heart gives an unpleasant lurch.  Another story he doesn’t know, and for once he’s sure he doesn’t want to. His mouth clearly has other ideas.

“What he did for Greg?” he asks, his voice a little pitchy.

Tory doesn’t notice the waver and - blessed with the obliviousness held by most nine year olds - doesn’t seem to realize she is sharing something she maybe shouldn’t. 

“Oh you know, the whole hot air balloon thing,” she says offhandedly, already scrolling through her contacts, “They went on that weekend trip to one of those resort places and Seb rented a hot air balloon for an afternoon or something.”

Kurt wants to ask more, wants desperately and pathetically to pump a nine year old girl for every detail he can squeeze from her, but she’s already holding the phone to her ear, and besides he’s pretty sure his throat has closed up completely.

He may not have heard this story, but Kurt most definitely knows who Gregory Hamilton is.  One doesn’t often forget the person they almost lose the love of their life to after all. (It is this moment, in Bas’s living room sitting across from Victoria as she chatters to her brother on the phone, that Kurt will pinpoint as the moment he first knew that that is exactly what Bas is. The love of his life.  He’ll realize this in a few hours when he is walking home from taking Tory to the train station – alone, Sebastian had gotten stuck at work – because in this moment he is too caught up in thoughts of Greg and hot air balloons to make any life changing revelations).

Greg and Sebastian had met at some club during junior year of college.  Despite the initial meeting being more of the ’20 minute relationship’ type, somehow Greg had stuck around and Sebastian had allowed him to stick.  Kurt can still remember the day, nearly 2 months after that initial meeting, when Sebastian announced that he and Greg were doing the exclusive thing. Kurt had laughed, loudly, because he wasn’t sure that Sebastian even knew what exclusive meant. 

Apparently he had.

The next 18 months had been a weird brand of torture for Kurt.  For as he had watched Sebastian and Greg grow closer, he had also been coming to terms with his own feelings for Sebastian. 

Discovering he was in love with his best friend was not an unfamiliar thing to Kurt.  Nor was watching his best friend try and date someone else, while simultaneously being completely oblivious to how Kurt felt about him.  What was a particularly cruel form of sadism, and wholly new to Kurt’s experience, was watching said best friend fall in love with another man. 

But Kurt was nothing if not an expert at masking his own hurt. Plus, he told himself often, he wasn’t about to lose Sebastian from his life completely over something as silly as unrequited love. 

So he had smiled dutifully when Sebastian gushed about his new boyfriend.  He hugged Bas and congratulated him when Sebastian told him that Greg had asked him to move in.  And when Bas had come to him for help in picking out an engagement ring, he had broken out the champagne and toasted their future happiness, saving his tears for when he was alone with a pillow to sob out his heartache into.

It had been both one of the _best_ and the _worst_ days when Bas had knocked on his door at 3 in the morning 2 months later, exactly one week after Valentine’s Day, red eyed and drunk saying that he had ended things with Greg.

Kurt’d watched as over the next several months Sebastian had picked himself up from the break up, becoming happier and more himself every day.  He had been there every step of the way, using every little bit of goodness in him to be supportive and understanding and not, absolutely not, taking any advantage of Bas’s emotional state by proclaiming his own feelings.

So when in August, over half a year later and just a few months after graduation, he and Bas had been watching an old black and white movie on the very couch where Victoria was now sitting, Bas had looked at him and said, “How much longer are you gonna wait to kiss me, babe?”  before just leaning in and kissing Kurt himself, well.  That had been the _best_ day.

Greg had been the past, so much the past that Kurt tried not to think of him ever at all.  So having Greg shoved in his face without any warning whatsoever was a bit of a shock.  Worse was the growing awareness that while he could explain away 8 year old Bas’s present giving, and 15 year old Bas’s B&E attempt, and even 19 year old Bas’s misguided attempts at wooing, he could not explain away 23 year old Bas’s romantic weekend getaway complete with balloon ride, because that said quite clearly that Sebastian _had_ wanted to celebrate Valentine’s Day, even just last year. Had probably celebrated it in grand Smythe style _every_ year before that too.

He just didn’t want to celebrate it with Kurt.

So later that night, as he is walking home from the train station alone, Kurt is coming to all sorts of realizations.  The first is that Sebastian is the love of his life.  The second is that Bas might not feel the same way.  And the third is that he is most definitely, completely and totally, thinking and worrying and wondering about Valentine’s Day.

*&*&*&*&*&*

**_“V-Day.”_ **

This is the first thought in Kurt’s mind when he wakes up the next morning.  It seems some of Victoria’s melodrama has worn off on him, but that thought makes him smile so he thinks it’s probably going to be okay.

He’s waking up in his own bed for once, as his apartment was closer to the station where he had to drop Tory the night before and Bas wasn’t going to be in til late anyway.  Though he usually doesn’t like the whole sleeping alone thing, it had actually helped last night, as not being surrounded by a mixture of his and Sebastian’s things had helped him to clear his head a bit, and what he’s decided is this: He’s going to wait and see.

After considering everything he’s learned about Sebastian and Valentine’s Day in the past few days, he’s come to the conclusion that if nothing else Bas likes grand gestures and big surprises.  So maybe, just maybe, he threw out that line about not celebrating just to throw Kurt off the trail.  After all, if Kurt isn’t expecting anything then any gift or surprise or gesture will seem even grander in comparison right?

So Kurt is going to give it the day.  He’s not going to worry, he’s not going to bring it up, he’s not going to do anything but go about his routine, because if Bas has something planned he doesn’t want to mess it up.  And if not, well.  If not, there’s always tomorrow to find out if he’s been disillusioning himself with thoughts of love and forever between them.

He sticks to the plan quite well for the first few hours.

There is no rehearsal at the theatre for the next few days, so he indulges himself by doing a full hour and a half of yoga in his front room and following it up with a leisurely soak in his tub.

He sings along to the radio as he sorts through the clothes still left in his apartment for an outfit, and dances in time in the kitchen as he makes an egg white omelet for breakfast.

He even tidies up a bit, though there isn’t much to do as he’s hardly ever here.

All too soon he’s run out of distractions, and the apartment walls feel like they are closing in on him. That is not part of the plan, so he quickly grabs his messenger bag, keys, wallet and phone and dashes out the door.

The next two hours are okay too.

He stops at one of the cuter café’s bordering Central Park and orders a caramel macchiato, even splurging by adding a cupid cookie to his order.  He smiles as he eats it, thinking about Blaine and another Valentine’s Day from a long time ago.  By the time he throws away his paper cup he’s humming ‘Silly Love Songs’ to himself and remembering that he was just fine on all those other February 14th’s without roses or stuffed animals or greeting cards, so this year should be no different.

He absolutely is not checking over his shoulder every minute as he takes a stroll through the park in vague anticipation of a marching band or singing mob à la ‘Enchanted’.

Nope, not at all.

Just like he is absolutely not snooping around for concealed presents at Sebastian’s apartment when he drops by an hour later to grab his favorite scarf.  It isn’t his fault, he reasons, that he didn’t notice it draped over the back of a chair when he first walked in and instead spent near 45 minutes digging through closets and cupboards and under the bed in search.  That kind of oversight could happen to anyone.

And he most definitely is not thinking of speeding things along when, after he ‘finds’ the scarf, he decides that visiting Bas at the office might be a nice surprise. 

No way.

All he is thinking about is surprising his boyfriend for a late lunch.  If said boyfriend just so happens to spring plane tickets for a romantic weekend in Paris on him, well, it wouldn’t be as if he had been _expecting_ anything.

*&*&*&*&*&*

The law offices where Sebastian works are a madhouse when Kurt arrives a little after two o’clock.  Interns are rushing around, senior attorneys are sticking their heads out of their offices and shouting to the interns, and Kurt is pretty sure he even recognized a senior partner dashing through the hallway as he waits outside Sebastian’s office for the secretary to let him in.

Kurt observes it all and wonders for not the first time just what about all of this chaos is so appealing to his boyfriend.  He knows Bas loves it, but all Kurt can see is stress headaches and ulcers.

Sebastian’s secretary, Lena, Kurt remembers her name is, hangs up the phone and turns to him.

“It’ll just be another minute,” she apologizes, giving him a sympathetic smile, “He’s still on hold with one of the other side’s attorneys, but he said it shouldn’t be more than 5 or 10 more minutes.”

Kurt smirks at this. “You mean he said it should only be 5 or 10 more minutes until he gets tired of waiting for the guy to take him off hold and just hangs up.”

“He didn’t put it quite so politely, but yes that is what I mean,” Lena says, smirking with him now.

“I think I can probably fill in the appropriate profanities.  After all these years even Sebastian Smythe has gotten a bit predictable in his insults,” Kurt jokes and that gets a full laugh out of her.

“You do know your man, Mr. Hummel,” she says.

“Kurt, please.”

“Kurt then.”

They share another smile, and though Kurt likes to think his ability to be effortlessly social has improved a bit with age, he’s still no Bas or Blaine and so the silence turns a little awkward after a minute.  Grasping for something else to talk about, he latches on to the first thing he sees which is a rather prominent bouquet of roses on Lena’s desk.  They are in varying hues of red and pink, and the whole thing is really quite lovely.

“Your flowers are beautiful,” Kurt says.  It seems to be the right thing to say because Lena absolutely _beams_.

“I know, aren’t they? He really is the sweetest thing when he wants to be.”

“Oh...boyfriend?” Kurt asks, charmed by her obviously delight in the gift.  Just because _he_ absolutely isn’t thinking about any presents he may or may not receive doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy other people’s joy surrounding this silly day.

“No-o,” Lena stutters out, looking a little confused and starting to blush ever so slightly, “They’re from Seba- Mr. Smythe.  I thought you knew.”  She trails off, and the almost guilty way she cut herself off from almost calling him ‘Sebastian’ is a clear sign to Kurt that she’s afraid she’s said the wrong thing.

“Oh!” He says genuinely surprised, but wanting to reassure her, “That’s wonderful Lena.  Bas and I have hardly had the chance to say two words to each other with our schedules these past few days, so I’m sure it just slipped his mind, but that is like him. Sweet underneath the sour.”

He smiles brightly at her, and she starts to look a little better.  He’s glad. Of anything that Kurt might worry about when it comea to Sebastian, cheating with his very female secretary is not even on the list.  He has _ample_ proof that Bas likes cock, and likes it often.

Seeing that he wasn’t about to claw her eyes out, and that she hadn’t accidentally gotten her boss into trouble, Lena brightened back up considerably.  “Isn’t he though? I was telling him just last week how my boyfriend and I recently spilt up and I wasn’t looking forward to spending Valentine’s Day alone, and then lo and behold these appeared on my desk this morning with the sweetest note.”

She digs into the bouquet, retrieving a tiny pink card and passing it over for Kurt’s inspection.

_No one as pretty as you should be without a present today of all days.  Happy Valentine’s Day.  –Sebastian_

Kurt smiles at her as he hands the card back over, and makes appropriate noises as she continues to gush for the next few minutes.  In reality all he can think about is the flowers and the note, and why someone like Lena rates a gift from Bas and he doesn’t.  It’s not that he’s jealous of her (well maybe a tiny bit. Kurt Hummel has always appreciated a tasteful flower arrangement after all). It’s more that he’s confused, and maybe a little hurt.  Would it really have taken so much more effort to send flowers to Kurt’s apartment too?

He’s shaken from his thoughts when Lena waves him toward Sebastian’s office door.

“Why don’t you just peek your head in and see if he’s done yelling at the poor bastard yet.  See if you can’t get him out of the office for a bit, he could use a break.”

Kurt thanks her and moves toward the door, already pushing his worries behind him.  There is still _plenty_ of day left, and if Bas is doing something like that huge bunch of roses for his secretary, Kurt can’t even imagine what’s in store for him. 

_It will all be fine_ , he repeats to himself.

He cracks the door open and glances inside, not wanting to disturb Bas if the other man really is still on an important call. 

Sebastian is still on the phone, he’s sitting in his chair swiveled away from the door with his feet propped up on the desk as he talks, but it only takes Kurt a second to realize he isn’t talking business.

“Mom! Why would you say that to him?”

Bas is talking quietly but heatedly, and Kurt debates stepping more fully into the office to reveal himself or waiting another minute.  He waits.

“Because now he’s going to think-“ Kurt can hear the vague murmur of Cecily’s voice on the other line, and though he can’t make out her words he can tell she is speaking just as heatedly as her son.

“Well I don’t want him to-“ Bas is cut off again, and huffs out an angry breath.

“No, mom, he’s going to get the wrong idea if you-“ Another interruption.

“Because he _isn’t_ mom! He’s-“

That is the moment Bas drops his feet and swivels the chair back around to see Kurt standing in his doorway.  Kurt watches as his mouth drops open, words cut off midsentence, and all the blood drains from his face.  He’s not sure he’s ever seen Sebastian look so pale.

For one long minute they just stare at each other.  Then a questioning noise from the phone seems to snap Sebastian out of his daze and he breaks eye contact with Kurt, speaking hurriedly into the mouthpiece.

“I’ve got to go mom…No I really have to go…Yes, call you later…Kisses, bye.”

The click as he places the handset back in the cradle sounds overloud to Kurt’s ears.  He suddenly feels guilty and foolish and a little like he wishes he could run away, so naturally he just stares silently and waits for Bas to speak.

“So, um, you’re here!” Sebastian says overbright.  Okay, now that Kurt sees how they’re going to play it, he can pretend too.

“Here I am,” he replies, his smile just a little too big.

“Ah, I was just, ah, talking to my mom. About…her boyfriend.  Yep, that was the him you heard, not y-…I mean the, ah, the painter? She told you about him right? That’s what we were…I mean I was just-“  Sebastian is stuttering all over the place, which is so uncharacteristic and endearing that Kurt can’t help but soften a bit.  He can give Bas the benefit of the doubt. Maybe, after all, the call hadn’t been anything to do with him. Maybe.

“Okay Bas,” he says, stopping the other man’s rambling.  He’s smiling genuinely now, and despite all the worries that have been building inside him Kurt can’t help the glow of happiness blooming in his chest. Because this is the _love of his life_ and seeing Bas for the first time since coming to that conclusion can be nothing but happy.

“Okay?” Sebastian asks, and Kurt knows he’s asking more than just ‘is my excuse about the painter guy okay’.  He means ‘Are we?’

“Okay.” Kurt affirms.

Sebastian smiles hugely then, and is up and out of his chair before Kurt can hardly blink.

“Okay.” Sebastian repeats, and Kurt could listen to just that word for the rest of his life as long as Bas repeated it right against his lips, all soft and low like that.

He thinks about ‘okay-ing’ back, but doesn’t get the chance because Bas is kissing him within an inch of his life.  He opens up automatically under the assault, a little breathy whine escaping his lips as they part.  Sebastian’s tongue is hot and firm, stroking into his mouth possessively and it’s all Kurt can do to respond.

Kurt is vaguely aware of being pushed backward, and then his back is against something hard and Sebastian is all solid muscle and heat along his front and there is nothing in his mind but the pleasant buzz of need and desire and love.  He feels hands ghosting up and down his sides, clutching at his hips every few strokes and pulling him in _closerdeeperhotter_. 

Bas slots a thigh in between Kurt’s own and Kurt barely restrains himself from rocking down into the new friction, suddenly _achingly_ aware of his cock, hard and practically throbbing with his own want.  He keens into Sebastian’s mouth, tightening his arms around Bas’s shoulders, and feels Bas’s lips turning up into a smirk even as he pushes in to kiss Kurt harder.

The smirk is what gives Kurt the willpower to break away. It is so familiar and loved and just _Bas_ and Kurt’s heart is so fucking _full_ of this boy. But he’s still not about to come in his pants in a law office less than ten feet away from Sebastian’s secretary with just a wall separating them.

Sebastian lets him pull back, breaking the kiss, but keeps his body close.  His hands are still running up and down Kurt’s sides, less urgent but no less possessive.  It makes Kurt feel so inexplicably happy and cherished, and his heart aches for too many reasons to name.

“Hi,” Bas whispers to him, their mouths still close enough that Kurt can feel the words as much as he can hear them. “I missed you.”

“Missed you too,” Kurt whispers back, fighting a ridiculous urge to cry.

“Go to lunch with me?” Sebastian asks, and he pulls away to look at Kurt fully then, as if he’s actually afraid Kurt might say no.

“Lunch sounds fantastic.”

Bas smiles at him again then, stepping back and letting his hand drop down Kurt’s arm until he can tangle their fingers together.  He keeps smiling as he pulls Kurt out of the office, shouting back to Lena to hold his calls for the next hour.

Kurt smiles at Lena when she winks at him, and steadfastly ignores the flowers still sitting proudly on her desk.

*&*&*&*&*&*

Lunch doesn’t take an hour.  In fact, they’ve barely had time to sit down at a table before Bas’s cell begins ringing. On the other end Kurt can hear Lena apologizing over and over for calling as he’s already standing to gather his coat.

Sebastian looks upset, then resigned, and is giving his own apologies as soon as he hangs up the phone.  He doesn’t stop Kurt from putting on the coat though, just placing a hand at the small of Kurt’s back to guide him back out onto the busy street.

“I’m sorry,” he says, and he looks sincere but Kurt can tell his mind is already straying back to the new crisis at the office, “It’s just with the merger coming up and-“

Kurt cuts him off with a kiss, forces a smile.

“It’s okay Bas.  There’ll be other lunches.”

Sebastian really looks at him then, says seriously “There will be Kurt, I promise.”

Kurt nods, kisses him again briefly and then pushes him down the sidewalk and back toward the firm’s building.  Sebastian waves and starts to turn, before pivoting back with a look in his eyes that Kurt might have called pleading on anyone else.

“Stay with me tonight okay? Even if I’m back a little late, will you stay at my place?”

Sebastian usually doesn’t ask, usually doesn’t have to. Kurt realizes if Bas hadn’t asked he was already planning on going back to his own place again. Already planning on needing the time away.  He hates that, and so darts forward to kiss Bas again, pressing his guilt down deep.

“Sure, of course I will,” he says, and the sigh Bas lets out sounds an awful lot like relief.

“Okay, good.  I’ll see you later then,” Sebastian says.  He pauses mid-turn one more time. “Kurt?”

“Hmmm?”

“I-“  There is the longest of pauses, and Sebastian looks like he’s struggling. Whatever he’s fighting with, the look in his eyes when he speaks again says clearly that he didn’t win.  “I’ll see you later.”

Kurt isn’t sure why those four little words disappoint him so much.

“See you later,” he confirms, and watches as Bas really does walk away this time.  “Happy Valentine’s Day,” he adds, to no one in particular.

*&*&*&*&*&*

Later turns out to be much much later.  Kurt is already in bed, laying in the dark and trying not to watch the clock click closer to midnight and the end of another Valentine’s Day, when he hears the key in the lock.  The lights are already out, and he closes his eyes feigning sleep, suddenly too tired to face anything else.

He hears Sebastian kicking off his shoes in the entryway, and then the quiet whisper of sock clad feet coming into the bedroom.

“Kurt?” Sebastian whispers, voice tired and a little rough.  Kurt lies quietly, facing away from the door with his eyes clenched tight.

When he gets no response Sebastian sighs, and after a moment Kurt can hear the sounds of undressing.  Soon enough another body is sliding into bed behind him, Bas’s familiar smell and shape pressing up along his back and spooning his curled form. 

Sebastian nuzzles into the side of his neck, inhaling deeply and squeezing Kurt with the arm that is draped over his waist.  Kurt tries to will his body to be sleep pliant, and keeps his eyes shut.

“Kurt,” Sebastian says again softly, so softly, and expecting no response; it isn’t a question this time. It sounds like a comfort, an endearment.  If Kurt wasn’t feeling so crushed and confused by the lack of _anything_ all day he would have thought it sounded a little bit like love.

Sebastian is quiet then, and after a few minutes the arm around Kurt’s waist relaxes just a fraction as Sebastian’s breathes even out into the patterns of sleep. 

Only then does Kurt indulge in a silent tear or two as he thinks about how awful it can be being in love.

*&*&*&*&*&*

When he wakes up in the morning the bed is empty and cold.

There’s a note on the coffee table, just a quick scrawl of _See you tonight, might be late xx_.  Kurt idles in the kitchen for a while, drinking coffee and thinking about yesterday and the days before.  Somewhere around his third cup he starts to feel better.

He can’t completely erase the disappointment he’s feeling over the lack of any token of affection yesterday.  He knows it’s really not even fair, because they _had_ agreed they didn’t want to celebrate.  But somehow, in all the stories, in all the memories, in the appearance of flowers on a secretary’s desk, Kurt couldn’t help but want just a little of that romantic side of Bas for himself.

He’s not angry though, and he’s not hurting as much as he had in the dark of night after a long day.  Because Bas may not feel about him the way he feels about Bas (‘ _He **isn’t** mom’ _ echoes in his head still) but that doesn’t mean that Bas doesn’t care at all.  They’ve been friends for years, best friends nearly as long, and the boyfriend thing is just icing on the cake.  If he doesn’t get to be Bas’s life-long love, well, he’ll take what he can get.  Kurt is pretty good at giving love, after all, whether it is returned or not.

By the time he gets in the shower he’s humming again, and feeling like things are back to being okay.

*&*&*&*&*&*

He’s been running errands, dropping off dry cleaning, checking in at the theatre to make sure no one did anything too dramatic yesterday (they are actors after all) and generally running about town, so he doesn’t get back to Bas’s apartment until nearly 8 o’clock.  He doesn’t even think about calling to check in, Bas has been so busy lately that he’s never home before nine, and so doesn’t realize he’s forgotten his phone until he walks in the door and is immediately pulled into a bone-crushing hug with frantic words spilling all around him.

“God, Kurt, you weren’t answering your phone, and you weren’t at your apartment, and I called Blaine and Rachel and everyone else I could think of and no one had seen you and then you weren’t here and I thought-“

Bas stops mid-ramble with a choked off sob that makes Kurt’s heart throb painfully.

“I thought you’d left.”

The admission is quiet and cuts Kurt to the core.

He gently disentangles himself from where Sebastian has him wrapped up tight, pulling back but not away, just enough to look at Sebastian’s face. His eyes are bright with tears, Bas so rarely cries oh _god_ , and his whole face is lined with worry and fear.  As Kurt watches one lone tear breaks free and runs down the side of Sebastian’s face.  Kurt catches it quickly with his thumb, brushing it away tenderly.

“ _Bas,_ ” he says, and that one little word carries all the emotions he’s holding inside.

“Don’t leave Kurt,” Sebastian pleads, and then Kurt is crying too.

“No, no never,” he’s promising, pressing frantic kisses on any bit of skin he can reach, “I’ll never leave you sweetheart, never.”

Sebastian is kissing back and crying and apologizing and they’re both a mess of words and lips and tears and then they are laughing and hugging each other so tightly Kurt can hardly breathe.

When Sebastian finally pulls back to let Kurt step fully into the apartment and close the door behind him, Kurt sees for the first time what looks like an attempt at a romantic dinner set up on the coffee table.  There are melted candle stubs all over the room, and the Chinese food has been moved from its containers onto actual plates, chopsticks lined up neatly on the side next to what Kurt can only assume was an attempt at fancy napkin folding.  It looks kind of like the origami art he did in Kindergarten, but not as good.  There are even flower petals sprinkled around, though Kurt screws his face up in confusion as he tries to identify- are those? Yes they are, there are chunks of torn up carnation petals spread all over the coffee table and floor.

“Bas, what…?” Kurt can’t even form a question, feels torn between cooing over the obvious effort and laughing fondly at the results.

Sebastian glares sullenly at the display. “I suck at this stuff, I told you I don’t do Valentine’s Day cheesy stuff.  I can do the big things where all you have to do is throw your money at it to make it work, but this kind of thing? So not my forte babe.”

Kurt grins and pokes Sebastian in the ribs teasingly.  “Really? I’d never have guessed.  And just what are those supposed to be?” he asks, gesturing at the crumpled napkins, “Modern art of some kind?”

Sebastian’s glare intensifies, but Kurt can see him fighting a smile.

“They’re swans. I looked up the directions online.”

“Ah, swans. Of course, how silly of me.”

“Shut up,” Bas says, but the grin has broken through and his tone hints at laughter instead of hurt.  “This took a lot of effort.  Do you know how impossible it is to find flowers in this city the day after Valentine’s?  I had to steal the carnations from the table outside some café, and I’m pretty sure I broke a few fire hazard laws burning so many fucking candles.”

Kurt is giggling now, and Sebastian laughs with him, pulling him back into another hug. 

“Shut up,” he says again fondly, “You can’t tease me or I won’t let you have any of my wontons.”

Kurt is still laughing quietly, but he burrows into the hug, resting his head against Bas’s chest right over where his heart is beating loud and perfect in Kurt’s ear.  The giggles die away and for a moment there is nothing but the warmth of each other’s presence. 

“Why’d you do it all then, if it was so much trouble?” Kurt finally says.  He hadn’t been aware he was going to ask, but suddenly the answer seems so very important.

Sebastian stiffens for just a moment before he relaxes back into the embrace.  He presses a kiss to Kurt’s hair, then pulls back, lifting his hand to frame Kurt’s face so they are looking right at each other with nowhere to hide.

“Because I love you, you idiot,” Sebastian says fondly, and it’s all right there in his gaze for Kurt to see. _I love you._

Kurt chokes on something that is partway between a laugh and a sob, and he knows he’s going to cry again any second but he just doesn’t care. “I love you too,” he manages to say, and Sebastian is smiling and leaning in to kiss him again.  Kurt’s pretty sure he sees a telltale shimmer in Bas’s eyes too right before their lips meet.

There isn’t so much talking after that, not with words, but their bodies move together and say all they need to.

There is _I want you_ in the way Kurt rocks up to presses deeper against Sebastian’s mouth, in the way Bas groans and opens up to him, letting him take.

There is _I need you_ in the urgent way Sebastian backs Kurt into the bedroom, pulling with something akin to desperation at both of their clothes.  It’s in the way Kurt doesn’t feel like he can properly breathe until they are pressed skin to skin.

There is _You’re beautiful_ in the kisses Bas trails all over Kurt’s body, slow and wet and worshipful.  There is _You’re perfect for me_ in the way Kurt arches under Bas’s hands, responds to his touch, looks over his form with unconcealed adulation.

And there is _I love you, I love you, I love you_ , over and over.  It is in every _kisspresstouch,_ in every sigh and moan and shiver, reaching a crescendo when Bas is finally over him, pressing in oh so slowly, and they are as close as two people can possible get. 

The move together, gently at first and then more urgently as need overtakes them, and it isn’t until he’s coming down, lying next to Bas, both of them sated and sleepy, that Kurt realizes he’s been crying the best kind of tears.  The kind that come when you realize you have everything you could ever want.

Bas snuggles up closer to him, that proprietary wonderful arm draping over his middle again, nose burrowing into the crook of his neck.

“Love you,” Sebastian murmurs into his skin, and Kurt feels it all through him. 

“I love you too,” Kurt murmurs back, and then - because apparently his mouth has decided to never listen to his brain or heart again - he can’t stop himself from asking “Bas?”

He gets a hum of acknowledgement, and continues.

“Why didn’t you want to celebrate Valentine’s Day with me?”

Bas sighs, but doesn’t freeze up or move away. If anything he scoots in closer.

“Kurt-“

“I’m not mad or anything, I mean we decided not to celebrate because neither one of us was really into it, and that was fine. But then everyone was telling me all these stories and your sister was mentioning hot air balloons and I just-“

“Kurt.”

Kurt stops, closes his eyes and turns so that his cheek rests against the top of Sebastian’s head.  He can smell Sebastian’s shampoo, mixing with the scent of sweat and sex and just plain _Bas_ and it calms him.

“I told you I was good at throwing money at things, and I meant it.  I’m good at sex and spending and wooing and all that when I want to be.  And all those other times, that’s what it was.  It was easy to do Valentine’s when all you’re thinking about is getting into someone’s pants and what it’s going to take to impress them.  It’s not so easy when you’re trying to show someone you love them.  Love is something I’ve never been good at.”

“But Greg…” Kurt can’t help adding it, hates saying the name and the little bubble of jealousy and anger that comes with it.

“I thought I loved Greg,” Sebastian says, “I think I wanted to love him, wanted to prove that I could love someone.  I think I always knew in my gut that’s what it was, pretty sure I asked him to marry me just to try and prove that feeling wrong.  I know you never really asked why I broke it off, and I never volunteered the information, but do you know what finally made me realize that I wasn’t really in love with him?”

Kurt shakes his head, feels his whole body trembling though he doesn’t know why.

“Because last Valentine’s Day I was sitting in a hot air balloon with him and all I could think about was how I’d rather be home on the couch eating Chinese food with you, pretending not to notice when you stole my wontons.”

Kurt laughs. It’s shaky and watery, but so fucking happy he’s dizzy with it.

“That’s when I knew I had to end it with him, because whether you and I ever got together or not I knew I was never going to love him the way I loved you.”

Bas leans back, looking up into Kurt’s eyes. Adds,

“I’m never going to love anyone the way I love you.”

Kurt grins hugely, knows he is smiling so much it can’t be attractive, and doesn’t give a damn at all.

“How long are you going to wait to kiss me, babe?” he says instead, before leaning down and kissing Bas himself.

Sebastian grins into the kiss and then he’s pulling the covers over their heads and pressing Kurt down into the mattress to start showing him _I love you, I love you, I love you_ all over again.

Kurt is most definitely not thinking about Valentine’s Day anymore, and why would he? He gets this _every_ day for the rest of his life.

-End

  



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